{Mariko} The Lesson Learned

Five years ago

It took the young people of the town three days to find Kasumi somewhere that they could beat her without getting caught.

She knew it was coming. It always did. With the people around her moving into official training with their families and other masters, they learned why the ronin were looked down upon, and why they were, in some ways, considered worse than heimin. The danger inherent in those that wore the daisho, but answered to no one, was impressed upon the young bushi and monks alike- as was the fact that they had no one to protect them.

These students knew that they couldn't take on any of the ronin Shin's sons, all of whom had begun their training as well, so they chose to assert their dominance through the Celestial Order upon his smaller, weaker daughter.

Kasumi had noticed the Matsu girl watching her, so it came as no surprise that she was the one to grab her, twisting her arm up behind her back, and dragged her back behind one of the houses with two of her closer friends. She struggled as they pulled her out of the way, but not too hard- she wouldn't give them another reason to strike her.

She kept her head down as the Matsu girl paced in front of her, smiling indolently. She was only a few years older than Kasumi, but her lazy, arrogant demeanor marked her heritage more clearly than the mon worn by her father, who was so proud of his daughter's budding prowess in combat, and her adherence to the tenets of Bushido.

"My name is Hoshi," she said, "And these are my brothers in training, Ikoma Katsurou and Hida Isamu. Do those names mean anything to you, girl?"

It was always the same, if not in words, then in their meaning. We do not expect you to know. We do not think that you know the ways of Rokugani society. We expect you to be ignorant, so that we may punish you for it.

Obediently, Kasumi shook her head.

"Only that they are names of the families of the Great Cla-"

She was cut off by a punch to the stomach. She gasped for air, while inside, she reflected that she had received worse. Not by much, but this Matsu Hoshi wasn't the strongest or sharpest she had faced.

"Yes, the Great Clans, which you are not a part of, little rat. You and your band of ronin garbage are nothing, nothing compared to us! Your brothers stride around as if they mean something, but they don't, and that goes doubly for you, with your weak body, your weak honour, and your weak family."

Kasumi choked down what sounded like a sob, and Matsu Hoshi smiled.

"But you know that, don't you? You won't look at me because you know that you don't deserve to. You don't even deserve to be struck by me, or my brothers here. But we will, for you, so that you don't forget your place."

She turned to address the boys.

"Put her down where she belongs, and begin the lesson."

Ikoma Katsurou and Hida Isamu threw her to the ground. She didn't try to push herself up again, but curled up a little, to protect her stomach and face as the kicking started. As much as she could, she tried to avoid their feet, but she couldn't stop them as their blows broke her ribs and tore at her skin and hair.

The Matsu girl watched, smiling as she heard the sobbing sound grow louder and louder between gasps and squeaks of pain. Finally, the need to gloat grew too much, and she gestured for her minions to stop. She knelt down, still towering over Kasumi's tiny form.

"Now now, little rat, you shouldn't be crying yet, we've barely even begun your lesson."

She grabbed the other girl's hair and pulled her head back, and was shocked and angry at what she saw.

Kasumi wasn't crying. She was laughing.

For a moment, Matsu Hoshi was stunned. One look at the confused faces of her companions spurred her to action, dragging Kasumi to her feet by her hair. Her other arm pistoned back to deliver a punch into the girl's stomach.

"Why are you laughing, you filthy wretch?!" The Lion hissed angrily, barely able to keep her voice down. "I could kill you right now for such an insult!"

The blow hadn't stopped Kasumi's laughter, but she fought to calm herself down to answer the question. After a moment, she smiled briefly, baring bloodied teeth.

"Just you. You and your friends are so amusing. You think you're the one in power here, the one in control. You are wrong- it's me. I have the power."

She tried weakly to free herself from Matsu Hoshi's grasp, but the two boys with her grabbed her shoulders again, as the other girl stepped back and looked at her victim incredulously

"You have the power? You must be mad! Where is this power, then? Show me!"

"You're only hurting me because I let you. If I had truly wanted to avoid you, I would have, but this exercise was necessary, as are the lessons that come from it. You see, your poor grasp on the tenets of Bushido is unfortunately common. You do not have compassion or courtesy. You only think of yourself, and this will be your downfall, as it has been for every other who has raised their hand to me. Your exposure will be my victory song, and your shame will be my pri-"

Kasumi's words were cut off by the furious cry of the other girl, as she swung a powerful, angry punch at her face. She felt her nose break and begin to spurt blood, but still she smiled as she lifted her face again.

"Oh look. Here comes your lesson now."

A shadow fell over the entryway, and the Lions and the Crab looked up to see Kasumi's four brothers. Only then did Kasumi let out a cry of pain.

Kasumi was dropped to the ground as the two groups clashed. She watched, hiding her smile under her hands as Arasora smashed through the other Crab, punching him to the ground brutally before turning to the Ikoma. Takeshi and Kuro moved forward to engage the Matsu girl, leaving her reeling at Takeshi's unfamiliar training, and Kuro's constant circling, waiting for a moment of weakness.

It was Hiroshi, however, who moved through the fighting like a blade through the water to reach his sister, and carried her out into the street with silent care and fury combined.

The boys were not subtle, so the sound of the struggle had drawn an audience. Adults plunged into the fray, dragging out the squabbling teens by whatever they could grab, and holding them apart. Hiroshi carefully lay Kasumi down in his lap as Shin and Turo sprinted to him, panic in their eyes.

"Is she OK? Kasumi-chan, are you OK?" Shin asked as Turo wrapped his hands in cloth to probe her face. Kasumi moaned in reply, and nodded carefully, keeping her eyes closed. In contrast, Turo briefly met Shin's eyes, and shook his head slightly.

Shin nodded, as calm as a mountain lake, and turned to regard his sons and the perpetrators both. A few moments later, the parents of the other teens arrived, puffing and panting with outrage.

"What is the meaning of this disgrace?" Shouted the elder Lion, pointing to his bruised and mussed daughter, "Ronin, you and your brats have some explaining to do here!"

There was the strangled sound of at least one of Kasumi's brothers swallowed a curse, and she felt even calm, rational Hiroshi tense in anger beneath her. Shin, however, managed to remain glacially calm as he spoke.

"From my understanding, Matsu-san, your daughter and her two compatriots attacked my little girl." He gestured to Kasumi, and called out without turning around- "Turo-san, how bad is it?"

"It's a bad break, Shin. We're going to need to plug her nose tight to make sure it heals straight, and even then. She's swallowed a lot of blood, too, and that will make her very ill if we can't make the bleeding stop." Turo's hands flew as he spoke, carefully guiding his patient to sit correctly and hold still.

"So, you see, it seems that your daughter conspired with her two friends to attack someone who had no means to defend themselves. That contravenes the tenets of Compassion and Courtesy, as described by the codes of Bushido. As a Matsu, you must understand how dreadful this is."

"Father, he's lying!" spluttered Matsu Hoshi unconvincingly, as her companions looked away in shame.

"I see. We can then add violation of the tenet of Honesty and Justice. Three of the Seven Virtues, Matsu-san. Will you do something now, or wait until she collects the set?"

The elder Matsu stormed up to Shin, stopping centimetres from him, face pale with rage.

"You go too far, ronin! My daughter is a paragon of her heritage, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise! You will retract your statement, now!"

Shin remained silent, his face revealing nothing, until the Matsu took a few uneasy steps back, incredulous and furious.

"Well?! Say something!"

"If your daughter is the example you say she is, then she can face me in a duel for the insult that she has paid me and mine. I am Shin, of the Wave's Strength, and she has disgraced my family- Your own codes demand no less."

The older man looked as if he'd been slapped.

"But... she's only a little girl!"

"Either she's a paragon or a child, Matsu-san. Decide."

The Lion glanced from his daughter, to Kasumi, to the other parents, before he turned back to Shin, his face blooming with a gloating smile.

"I don't have to give you anything, ronin! You are outside the Celestial Order! I do not have to honour your request for a duel!"

"Then honour mine."

Everyone turned to look at the new speaker- everyone except the members of the Wave's Strength. The woman that the children had grown up calling Auntie Meyoko strode towards the gathering, her daisho thrust through her obi, and Shin's naginata in her hand.

The elder Matsu looked her up and down, frowned a little, and took a step forward before the elder Ikoma grabbed his wrist. They whispered to each other fiercely, the Ikoma gesturing to Auntie's kimono, that was so unmarked by the mon of the Lion that it hurt, and to her katana. Kasumi had studied that blade at length, and had always wondered why she'd never seen anything quite like that tsuba before, just as she'd wondered why Hiroshi had taken to calling her Matsu-sama since they had started training, but clearly both meant something to these Lion. When the elder Matsu turned to speak to Shin again, who had received his naginata with a nod of thanks and the easy grace of a master, his face was a different kind of pale, and sweat dotted his brow.

"I... we should speak about this in private."

Shin raised one eyebrow.

"Should we?"

The other man swallowed, and his eyes darted to his daughter, weeping silently in terror, before returning to Shin. "Y... yes. I think that would be for the best. I will ask Hoshi's teachers to be present, and we can discuss where we will go from here."

It took a long moment for Shin to nod, but when he did, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

In Hiroshi's lap, Kasumi smiled. The only person to see was her Uncle Turo.

"Yes, very good, little one," he murmured soothingly as he dabbed herbal paste inside her nostrils, "you know how to swim. But maybe next time, you can stop them from breaking your nose?"

"And where would the fun in that be? How would they learn their lesson?" Kasumi replied in the same soft tone, so that Hiroshi wouldn't hear.

Suddenly wearied by all the commotion, Kasumi yawned. With a wry smile, Turo nodded to Hiroshi, letting her brother take the little girl to bed.